no pie!

A few years back, Rhino released a compilation (which seems to be a compilation of some other compilations...I'm confused) called Mother Goose Rocks! which are settings of popular lyrics for children (nursery rhymes and the like) set to parodies of popular songs. Okay, sounds like Weird Al Jr. or something - but at his best Weird Al's pretty damned good. I've heard only one of the Mother Goose Rocks tracks, but it's just wonderful: this remake/remodel of Ben Folds Five's "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," adapting the lyrics to "Three Little Kittens." (The song's billed to "Ben Folds Laundry" - har.)

What's really impressive is (a) this is not Ben Folds (I have no idea who played on these tracks - and I don't think they're listed in the credits), but (b) a pretty fine impersonation not only of his singing, but also of his piano-playing and his band's drumming and bass playing (they even throw in some of that distorto-bass used to roughen up the edges now and again). The song itself is a clever rearrangement of "One Angry Dwarf..." - turning chord progressions inside out or varying them - and I might be nearly blasphemous or something in saying that it just might outrock the original as well.